Strengthen Your Brethren - Ss. Peter and Paul - June 25, 2006
Thank you to Larry Proulx for heading up our parish picnic again this year. Thanks, too, to all who worked so hard and gave so generously of their time in this colossal effort. In order to operate our parish, a profitable picnic is an absolute necessity. Beyond money, however, this festival affords us the opportunity to chat (and work!) with people whose paths do not often cross our own during the course of the year. On a personal note, I enjoyed the chance to speak with so many of you over cheese curds, onion rings, brats, and hamburgers (and a beer or two!)! I never did make it out onto the dance floor. Count your blessings ladies! Maybe next year!
Thank you for your incredible generosity towards the re-roofing of our magnificent church. Several months ago when it became clear that we could no longer wait to address the serious problems with the leaky roof, I was terrified to launch into such a huge (and expensive!) project. And then to be under such a severe time constraint to raise sufficient cash in order to get the large discount from the contractor! But you all came through in stunning fashion! Congratulations and thanks! We owe a deep debt of gratitude to Travis Simpson, head of our Diocese of La Crosse’s Office of Buildings and Grounds. He cut through a lot of red tape for us at the diocesan level. Thanks to Kulp’s of Stratford who were so good to work with. Thank you to Gary Glodowski and all the members of our parish Building and Grounds Committee, especially Ken Lepak and Mark Krutza. Because of your generosity, a number of unforeseen problems that were discovered during the re-roofing were able to be repaired. A full accounting of the project (what you gave, what was done, what it cost) is forthcoming. Also, thank you’s will be mailed to donors in the near future.
Please pray for the two young men ordained priests for our Diocese at the Cathedral of Saint Joseph the Workman on June 24. Timothy Welles of Saint Joseph, Stratford, and Joseph Redfern, originally from Australia and now of Blessed Sacrament, La Crosse, are our “baby” priests. Pray that the young men of Saint Peter’s may have hearts open to the vocation to the priesthood. And pray for the health and well-being – physical, mental, and spiritual – of all our priests.
Our parish patron, Saint Peter, is celebrated three times during the Church’s year of faith: The Chair of Peter (February 22) and the Dedication of the Churches of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (November 18), along with this week’s Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (June 29). The Church’s liturgy provides a Vigil Mass for this Solemnity so we will have a Mass at 5:15 pm on Wednesday, June 28. At 6:30 pm that evening our parish’s seminarian, Franz Klein, will give a presentation on the tomb of Saint Peter and the Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican. On the feast day itself, Thursday, June 29, Mass will be at 8:00 am. Let us beg the intercession of Saint Peter for our families, our family of families, that is, our parish, and for those whose faith has grown lukewarm or who have given up the regular practice of the faith. And I ask you to invoke Saint Peter that he might intercede powerfully for me as I complete one year (June 21) as your Pastor.
Saint Peter, pray for us! Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!